1. family and parenting
2. children

I DO,
AND
AND
I UNDERSTAND
Helping Young Children Discover
Science and Mathematics
Robert Louisell
with special guest chapters by
I hear, and I forget.
I see, and I remember.
I do, and I understand.
Stephen Hornstein and Peter Frost
*Ancient Asian Proverb.
I DO,
AND
I UNDERSTAND
Helping Young Children Discover
Science and Mathematics
Robert Louisell
with special guest chapters by
Stephen Hornstein
St. Cloud State University
and
Peter Frost
Constructivist Press
Minneapolis, Minnesota
For information about this book, contact:
Constructivist Press
P.O. Box 24502
Minneapolis, MN 55424
www.constructivistpress.com
Cover photos by Robert Louisell
Book layout, design, and typesetting
by Peter Lilliebridge
www.crossthelilliebridge.org
Printed by
Sunray Printing Solutions
in St. Cloud Minnesota
www.sunrayprinting.com
Copyright © 2015 by Constructivist Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota
10-digit ISBN 1-934478-36-9
13-digit ISBN 978-1-934478-36-3
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
written permission from the copyright owner.
Printed in the United States of America
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Contents
Author’s Preface v
Acknowledgements viii
1
Part 1
Chapter 6
Teaching Young Children about
Measurement and Fractions
The World of the Young Child and
Some Implications for Teaching
Chapter 7
3
Chapter 1
The World of Young Children and
a Philosophy for Teaching Them
Chapter 2
21
Chapter 3
43
How We Should Teach
Young Children about Science
Chapter 8
Helping Young Children Develop
Their Understanding of Science
during Preschool
“ The Moon Is Following Me! ” —
The Young Child’ s Ideas about Science
How Listening to Children
Enables Good Teaching
Part 2
Helping Young Children Develop
Their Understandings of
Mathematics and Science
Preface to Chapters about
Teaching Mathematics and Science
to Young Children 61
Chapter 4
Helping Young Children Develop
Their Ideas about Number
Chapter 5
Teaching Young Children about
Number Operations during
Kindergarten and the Primary Grades
Chapter 9
Helping Children in the
Primary Grades Develop Their
Understanding of Science
59
Part 3
Helping the Young Child
Make Connections
Chapter 10
Engaging Children in Learning
by Making Math Meaningful
67
Chapter 11
109
129
153
169
195
197
213
Integrating Math and Science
with Other Subjects: Relating
Project Work to Real Life Experiences
89
Index 235
About the Authors 239
iii
Author’s Preface
I hear, and I forget.
I see, and I remember.
I do, and I understand.
— Ancient Asian Proverb
T
But the whole point of this book—its
theme—is that young children best learn about
math and science by doing. What does that mean?
Doing? It means that they learn how to add by
combining groups of objects and counting how
many objects there are in the new group that has
been formed as a result. It means that they learn
about density by making clay boats and testing
them to see if they float. It means learning about
electricity by being given a battery, a bulb, and
a wire and figuring out how to make the bulb
light. It means learning how to divide by taking
a group of objects—say, caramels—and dividing them equally among themselves.
In other words, young children need to
experience mathematics and science if they are
to learn it well. And they need to understand
these experiences. Children can learn the procedure for addition—combining two or more
groups of objects and counting up the result—
but they must also understand this process!
When it comes to the written symbols for mathematics, the child must realize that two or more
groups are being combined every time she sees
a “+” sign.
here are many ways that young children
learn. They learn from observing. They
learn from actively listening and from overhearing. Most of all, they learn from doing. This book
has been written for future teachers of young
children; that is, students of early childhood education or child development. It has been specifically designed for use in courses on how to teach
young children about mathematics and science.
A young child’s thoughts are intricately tied
to her or his actions because the young child’s
thoughts have not yet been fully distinguished
from the young child’s actions in the child’s
mind. Chapters 2 and 3 attempt to explain why
this is so. Some education texts include a chapter on children’s “misconceptions,” as does this
text, but, as far as we are aware, no text actually
deals with appropriate strategies for interviewing children and interpreting what they say.
Chapters 2 and 3 were written to help prospective teachers of young children learn how to better get to know the ideas of the children with
whom they work. This is an essential skill for
constructivist teachers since they must anticipate, and respond to, the ideas of their students.
v
vi ♦ Author’s Preface
A child’s curiosity must be nurtured during
instructional experiences with math and science.
Telling children the answers to science questions
and showing them the most efficient ways to
solve math problems does not nurture their curiosity about these subjects. If you always answer
the child’s questions about science, what reason
does she have to explore these phenomena further? If you always show the child how to solve
math problems, when will she ever develop
her own ideas about math? We don’t mean that
a teacher should never show a child how to do
something like add or subtract or that a teacher
should never tell the child an answer to a science
question, but this sort of showing and telling
should be done sparingly. Mathematics and science must also be related to the real life experiences of children. Otherwise, how will young
children ever become aware of the importance
of math and science in the world in which they
live and observe things? Why will children want
to learn about math and science? They must see
how it applies to their everyday lives. Chapters
10 and 11 deal with this issue—how math and
science are related to our everyday lives as well
as how they relate to other subjects.
Our philosophy of teaching science and
mathematics to young children is constructivist (See Chapter 1 for our interpretation of this
term). Some people think that knowledge can be
transmitted—taught—to children. We believe,
as Piaget did, that the young child invents her
or his knowledge and understandings. Teachers
can facilitate this process of invention through a
variety of methods; for example, by providing
young children with hands-on experiences and
engaging them in discussions and debates about
these experiences. Children come to school curious about many things, including science and
mathematics. It’s a shame that they often leave
school less curious about these things because
we see the development of the child’s curiosity
as a primary goal—an essential standard—for
school science and mathematics.
Although most textbooks of this type typically start with theory and move to examples of
best teaching practices, the first three chapters of
this book may have “more than enough” theory
for some! Professors may choose to deemphasize these chapters, although I do hope that they
will at least engage their students in the activity of doing clinical interviews with children.
In my own experience as a college professor, it
provides early childhood majors with a much
needed insight into the differences between how
children and adults think. As my doctoral advisor, Jack Easley, said to me many times, the most
practical idea is to have a good theory.
We wrote this book because previous texts on
the subject of early childhood mathematics and
science teaching omitted an essential aspect of
the field. While they covered preschool and kindergarten years, they neglected the mathematics
and science teaching for grade levels one through
three. This book corrects that fault. It comprehensively deals with preschool/kindergarten
and grades 1–3 and it contains over a hundred
tested early childhood activities for mathematics
and science. The Activities for Children, which are
numbered in each of the chapters that include
them, are intended for teacher-candidates as
well as children. It is appropriate to demonstrate
these during class time or to have students practice these activities independently. It is assumed
that the practicing teacher will make her own
judgement about whether any individual activity is best completed as a teacher-led, supervised
activity or as an independent activity for children in small groups. In most cases, this should
be obvious from the description of the activity.
There are a variety of boxed items in this
text which have been provided for the benefit of
the reader. These include Activities for Children,
Activities for Future Teachers, and Assessments. It is
assumed that the reader of this text will keep a
student journal related to the activities for future
teachers in the science-related chapters. Those
Activities For Future Teachers that are sciencerelated may be carried out independently by the
reader at home or in class with other students,
depending on the instructor’s preference. We
have also included boxes for relevant content
standards; for example, NCTM Principles and
Standards, Benchmarks for Science Literacy, National
Science Education Standards, and Next Generation
Science Standards.
Author’s Preface ♦ vii
In the chapters about the development of
the child’s understandings of mathematics
(Chapters 4–6), you will find boxed items entitled Assessment Activity; for example, Assessment
Activity 4.1. These are not intended as summative assessments. Rather, they should be considered formative in nature; that is, they are
snapshots of “where the child is” in his or her
development for this specific math topic at this
particular point in time. No inferences about the
child’s capabilities in mathematics are appropriate here. Rather, these assessments are provided
to help teachers acquire some insight into the
child’s ideas about this topic at a particular point
in time so that the teacher can better decide how
to teach this child.
Our philosophy of assessment favors
authentic assessments for formative purposes.
In other words, we believe that assessments
should occur in the context of ongoing experiences in which the children are engaged.
Reports about the educational progress of individual children should communicate what the
child has learned, is learning, and is about to
learn. We oppose grades or marks that compare
students to each other, except for very general
developmental “landmarks” that can help a parent to understand the nature of a child’s special
needs. We have not included any of the diagnostic assessments used for purposes of special
education because many early childhood education programs are now combined with special education and courses in this area can deal
more appropriately with this topic. We have,
however, included some adaptations for special
needs students in science during kindergarten
and the primary grades.
We have opted for specific assessments in
the form of boxed items rather than for dealing
with the entire topic of assessment in a separate chapter on the topic. Readers who would
like to know more about strategies for assessing
the student’s learning during early childhood
and elementary school can be referred to Chapter 7 of our previous book, Developing a Teaching
Style–2e, by Louisell and Descamps (Waveland
Press, 2001).
Many future early childhood teachers are
unconfident about their own knowledge of science content. The Activities for Future Teachers in
Chapters 7–9 provide the reader with experiences
that will help them develop knowledge related
to content that they must teach in the primary
grades; for example, organisms and life cycles.
Appropriate internet resources are provided
throughout the text in the context of the topics
being discussed. A DVD accompanies this text.
As this book goes to press, it contains some
examples of interviews with children. We hope
to include videotapes from classroom math and
science lessons, along with an introductory presentation about constructivist teaching, with the
second printing.
This book represents the ideas of the primary
author about the theory and practice of teaching science and mathematics to young children.
He has developed these ideas over a period of
over 40 years while teaching children and future
teachers. He has tested almost all of the Activities
for Children with classrooms of young children.
We hope you will find this book useful.
Robert Louisell
[email protected]
References
Louisell, Robert, and Jorge Descamps (2001). Developing a Teaching Style–2e. Prospect Heights, IL:
Waveland Press.
viii ♦ Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
When it was still in its early stages, Jack
Mayala and Wally Ullrich reviewed Chapter 2.
Frank Kazemek reviewed it at a more developed
stage, as did Klaus Witz and Juan Pascual-Leone.
Thanks to each of these persons for their constructive feedback.
A number of people reviewed Chapter 3 for
me: Frank Kazemek, Muhammad Pervez, Louis
Smith, Jan Boom, and Ullrich Müller. This was
a difficult chapter to write (and read) and I’m
grateful for the feedback I received from each of
these people.
Marie Wardrop Louisell, a mathematics educator and my wife, reviewed Chapters 4, 5, 6,
and 10. I made several changes based on her
comments. She also drew sketches for Figures
9.6–9.9. I’m grateful for all of her labors.
Juan Pascual Leone reviewed Chapter 7,
along with the section on constructivism in the
first chapter. Frank Kazemek and Ken Kelsey
also reviewed the section on constructivism at
an earlier time.
Sally Benekee shared her thoughts, expertise, and essential references with me regarding
project work.
Several of our graduate students generously
shared their ideas and journal entries with us.
They are credited in footnotes at appropriate
places in the text.
I’m also grateful to Rebecca Louisell, my
daughter, who completed the majority of the
original illustrations and edited and organized
the videos for the DVD that accompanies this
book.
Peter Lilliebridge did the design and prepress work for the entire book, including the
cover design—developing the icons for the
Activities boxes, reworking several of the drawings used as illustrations, creating many of the
figures, and editing or retaking photos. The
quality of this work was stellar and the book’s
appearance is chiefly his doing.
Sunray Printing Solutions delivered the
high quality printing and finishing of the book’s
pages and cover. They also provided the ISBN
number for the book.
I’m also grateful to Julie Tangeman of Minneapolis Public Schools for allowing me to use the
district’s science center to consult various teachers’ guides for early childhood science programs.
Frank Kazemek, Bob Stake, and Judith White
provided me with much needed moral support
during the period that I was writing this book.
Their support helped motivate me to persist to
the book’s conclusion.
Photos for the book came from Wiltshire and
Bristol in England and from graduate students in
the early childhood education program at University of Texas, El Paso.
The book would not have been complete
without the contributed writings of Steve Hornstein and Peter Frost. Their names also appear on
the book’s cover.
Finally, the ideas of Jack Easley, who is
deceased, about children’s thinking and the process of science and math education, influenced
this textbook profoundly. I owe him a debt I
never can repay!
Chapter
7
How We Should Teach
Young Children about Science
I hear, and I forget.
I see, and I remember.
I do, and I understand.
— Ancient Asian Proverb
H
ow can we best help young children
to learn about science? How can we
nurture the curiosity of children and facilitate
learning that fully engages and responds to
their natural motivation? That is the topic of this
chapter. In this chapter, we plan to review our
“laws” of science teaching—the principles that
we recommend teachers of young children follow in order to be successful at helping young
children to learn about science. We will also
explain the role of science processes in learning
about science; that is, how young children naturally think like scientists when they learn about
science topics. We will also discuss some of the
important science curricula developed for young
children and share the recommended structure
of a science lesson for young children; that is, a
format for a lesson plan. Finally, we will discuss
the impact of today’s content standards for science on the teaching of young children.
Our “Laws” of
Science Teaching 1
In Chapter 2, we drew several implications
for how science should be taught. We based these
implications on what we know about the young
child’s conceptions of science and also on our
existing knowledge of how young children learn
about science. In the first part of this chapter, we
will review some of these implications. We have
playfully called these “laws” because scientists
often come up with laws governing physical
forces such as gravity, motion, buoyancy, and
thermodynamics. We think of them as principles
to consider when one is teaching science.
Children Have Their Own Ideas
From the many ideas that children expressed
in Chapter 2 about the moon, clouds, shadows,
129
130 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
and so on, it should be clear that young children
have ideas about science topics that are different
from those of adults. A teacher can deal with this
challenge in different ways, and some of these
ways will result in more successful learning than
others. For example, you might try to correct the
child and tell them the scientifically accepted
understanding. You might, for example, tell the
child “The moon doesn’t really follow you. It’s
just so very far away—about 240,000 miles—that
it looks like it’s following you.” But this approach
has several problems when you consider what
we know about how children learn. First, it
sends a message to the child that her own ideas
are incorrect and shouldn’t be considered. Is that
the message that you want your students to get
from you? Second, there is nothing about your
response that the child can relate to her own
experience. The moon looks like it is following
her. When you tell her that it only looks like it is
following you, will she discard her existing idea?
If the child were talking about what makes
things float, and she told you that light things
float, you could give the child a container of
water and a variety of objects—some heavy
and some light, some made of wood and others made of metal, and so on—and tell the child
to experiment with the objects and note which
ones sink and which ones float. But you can’t
tell a child to travel to the moon and find out
why it looks like it is following her! The best
approach in this case is probably to engage the
child in conversation about the moon; that is, to
extend the conversation in much the same way
as a clinical interview, always accepting what
the child says—never correcting her. This sends
another kind of message to the child—that you
can always be trusted to listen to her or his ideas.
Engaging young children in conversation about
whatever they have observed is an essential act
of teaching. You’ve probably heard people say
that the role of a constructivist teacher is not so
much to teach as to facilitate learning on the part
of the child. Whenever a teacher thinks of teaching as “telling”—as sharing information with the
child—they are thinking about teaching in a nonconstructivist way; that is, they are not acknowledging that children have their own ideas and
PART
2
that they invent or construct new ideas by applying their existing ideas to their experiences.
We might wonder, also, what is the effect
of telling a young child that her or his idea is
wrong. Will she or he be likely to share her
ideas with you in the future? As Eleanor Duckworth has said “Wrong ideas... can only be productive. Any wrong idea that is corrected [by
the child] 2 provides far more depth than if one
never had a wrong idea to begin with” (Duckworth, 1987, p. 71).
Start With the Child’s Ideas
When planning instructional activities for
young children, it’s best to start with the ideas,
interests, and questions of the children. Young
children have their own questions that reflect
their own ideas. Suppose, for example, that
you have just returned to your home with your
spouse and children at night. You all get out of
your car and look at the night sky. The moon
is shining brightly and you can see that it’s a
quarter-moon, so you say “Oh, look at that! It’s a
quarter-moon tonight!” Your 7 year-old daughter says “I wonder how they get it to do that?”
You ask “Do what?” She replies “Half-moon and
quarter-moon and stuff like that...” 3 This question reflects artificialist thinking (See Chapter 2
for more on this topic). It also reflects the child’s
honest thinking. How does one “start with” this
child’s ideas when developing curriculum?
One way would be to develop a project unit
(See Chapter 11) about the night sky. It might
include some night-time activities such as observing the moon through binoculars or a telescope.
Perhaps this would cause the child to question
her ideas about what we observe in the night sky.
But possibly, it wouldn’t. Either way, the instructional activities will have facilitated further development of the child’s ideas and questions.
There are also a variety of curricula which
have been developed in response to the questions and interests that young children have
typically expressed. The Elementary Science Study
(ESS) which is discussed in another section of
this chapter, was developed in this way. When
a teacher uses this curriculum, or others like it,
CHAPTER
7
she can be confident that she is starting with the
ideas of young children.
Of course, starting with the child’s ideas can
be in direct conflict with other articulated objectives for teachers of young children. For example,
the content standards articulated by the district or
the state may not relate to the ideas of the young
children whom you teach. We will discuss content standards in a later section of this chapter.
Actions and Ideas Are
Closely Related In the Mind
of a Young Child
Think about the conservation of number
interviews discussed in Chapters 1 and 4. The
simple action of spreading out a row of cubes
may lead a young child to conclude that she
has more cubes! Or reflect on the child’s observations of the moon and her conclusion that it
is following her. So many of the young child’s
ideas are intimately connected with her actions
and observations. According to Piaget, this is
because young children don’t fully distinguish
between their actions and thoughts during this
stage of development. Given this aspect of the
young child’s thinking, how can we best proceed in teaching them about science? It’s actions
that most influence their ideas—not whatever we
tell them! The young child’s ideas are in a state
of creative and frequent flux. Rather than try to
impart specific bits of knowledge to them, we
will do better to provide them with experiences
that cause them to reflect upon their own ideas.
If we really want to stimulate thinking
about science among young children, we will
have to provide them with opportunities to perform actions and make observations because
performing actions and making observations
is how they go about learning during this stage
of their lives. Manipulating materials helps
children to develop their ideas about physical
science. If we provide hands-on situations for
children—for example, exploring density by
testing out which objects sink and float or learning about electricity by experimenting with batteries, bulbs, and wires—they will reflect on the
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 131
science phenomena which they observe and
develop their own ideas about them. And having ideas is what science is all about!
Don’t Pretend to be an Expert
As teachers of young children, we do have
an obligation to become as knowledgeable as
we can about matters of science. But we can’t be
experts about science, and we shouldn’t pretend
to be experts. Often enough, we’re not even sure
that our own ideas about science are correct. This
shouldn’t embarrass us. In fact, science is so specialized that most scientists do not understand
much of the science which takes place outside
their own narrowly specialized fields. We’re not
supposed to be “all-knowing.” We’re supposed
to show our curiosity, wondering about our
world and asking questions about it instead of
being an authority to whom our students turn
for answers. We should help them to figure out
the answers to questions which they are asking. We should frequently appear puzzled, ask
questions, and behave the way people who are
curious about their world behave. In sum, we
should learn alongside our children; not tell them
things we find in a teacher’s guide or encyclopedia or at an online site—things that we don’t
fully understand ourselves!
Our job as teachers is to foster curiosity among children—not to supply them with
answers. Children come to school curious. They
have no “science anxiety” when they enter
school. By the end of their elementary school
years, however, many children have acquired
anxiety about science and math. As teachers,
we contribute to science anxiety by behaving
as experts or introducing technical terms without providing experiences through which children can come to understand these terms. We
also contribute to science anxiety by focusing on
correct answers. This makes students afraid of
making mistakes and asking “dumb questions.”
Too often, we teach children to rely on the textbook and the teacher for answers to science
questions and to distrust their own ideas. This
inhibits their curiosity and they gradually come
to see science as something that has nothing to
132 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
do with their own world. Instead, they view science as something that is only studied in school,
in boring ways, until they memorize information so they can regurgitate it on tests.
Explanations Are Ineffective
at Helping Young Children
Understand Science
The explanations included in textbooks
and the verbal presentations of teachers are, at
best, ineffective in helping young children to
understand science. A famous study of science
instruction in the elementary grades found
much evidence that children learned in handson science programs. However, it also found
little evidence that they learned from lectures
or from reading science textbooks (Shymanski,
Kyle, and Alport, 1983, and Shymanski, Hedges,
and Woodworth, 1990). When it comes to learning about science, explanations seem to be a
poor match to the thinking processes of young
children. Instead, children need to perform
actions, observe what happens, and reflect on
these observations in order to understand science concepts. As the old proverb goes “I hear,
and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I
understand.” In fact, children often misunderstand science concepts because of the explanations which they have been given! Many of us
are still holding on to misconceptions which
we developed as children. More explanation,
in the form of examples in textbooks, demonstrations, and teacher talk will not help clarify
these misunderstandings.
Science Is Complex—
Don’t Try To Make It Simple
Science is complex. Its questions demand
logical, creative, and thorough thought. Science
is not a collection of irrefutable facts. Scientists
argue, publicly and privately, orally and in writing, about their results, conclusions, and theories. But, when they present their findings in
textbooks for non-scientists, they present them
as neat, clean, organized pieces of information.
PART
2
Consequently, we have come to see science as
facts and explanations (even though we often
can’t understand them!). We feel incompetent in
the world of science.
If science is complex, it is also messy and
controversial. It’s okay for teachers and children
to be puzzled and disagree about explanations
of scientific topics. After all, scientists proceed
in the same way through their publications and
presentations at conferences! When teachers
appear to be certain of their own knowledge
about science, they inadvertently discourage
their students from learning through active
exploration and questioning. Science has traditionally been taught as a collection of facts to be
memorized. This factual tone implies a strong
degree of certainty. There is certainly no need to
ask questions if it is all that “cut and dry.” But,
as we have already said, science is actually very
controversial—not at all cut and dry (Easley, in
Duckworth et al, 1990). When science is taught
so that students must work out their own solutions (rather than be told the “right answers”),
students are interested and learn.
Research has been demonstrating that people who challenge and question the principles
of science remember these principles better
than people who learned these principles more
passively. 4 Children are told, for example, that
gravity pulls things down to earth. When a child
points out that grass grows up or asks “Then,
how do airplanes fly?”, teachers are usually surprised because they don’t understand the principles that well themselves (Easley, 1990, p. 61–65).
They often discourage students from asking
about these counter-examples. Teachers need to
become comfortable with their lack of expertise,
and explore with their students the questions
that they raise. Instead of discouraging young
children from asking questions, young children
must be encouraged to challenge and question
scientific principles. This helps them to better
understand the phenomena which these scientific principles are meant to explain. As teachers, we need to find ways to encourage children
to challenge the explanations about science to
which they have been exposed.
CHAPTER
7
Science Processes
Knowledge changes often in many areas of
science. For example, the smallest indivisible
particle of matter was once thought to be the
molecule. After that, it became the atom. After
that, electrons. Then, a host of different particles
were labeled and considered to be the smallest, indivisible particles of matter. Since the
1980s, quarks (which include protons, neutrons,
and other types of matter) and leptons (which
include electrons, neutrinos and other types of
matter) have been considered to be the smallest, indivisible particles, but there may be new
discoveries in the future. For this area of science,
which is called particle physics, it is likely that
factual knowledge will continue to change.
Thus, if you were to teach a child during
elementary school that the smallest, indivisible
particles of matter are the quark and the lepton, it is entirely possible that this knowledge
would become incorrect by the time that this
child entered middle school or high school. Suppose you used a traditional approach to science
teaching and you required that your children
in grade three memorize this fact: The smallest,
indivisible particles of matter are the quark and
the lepton. Several years later, this child might
enter middle school and her teacher might ask
her to answer the question “What is the smallest, indivisible particle of matter?” If this child
were a bright student and had a good memory,
she might give an answer that has become incorrect since the date when she was taught it. It may
have been correct when you taught it to her, but
it very well might have changed since then!
A group of science educators and scientists
grappled with this problem during the 1960s.
They asked “What should we teach our children, given the current rate of change in science
knowledge?” and they came up with an interesting conclusion. They concluded that, although
the facts may often change for science content,
the processes that scientists use as they go about
their work remain essentially the same for centuries. For example, scientists make observations and collect data. They sometimes generate
hypotheses and they devise experiments to
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 133
confirm or reject their hypotheses. They control
variables that could influence the results of their
experiments. We call these types of thinking
“processes” but that is really an abbreviation for
“thinking processes.”
Refer back to the discussion of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956) in the
Preface to Chapters About Teaching Mathematics and Science to Young Children. It classifies
learning objectives into 6 levels. From lowest to
highest, these are: knowledge,, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. 5
The first level, knowledge, is primarily concerned
with factual knowledge and information. It is
often referred to as “lower-level” knowledge
to distinguish it from other types of knowledge
which require more thought. The second level,
comprehension, is concerned with the learner’s
understanding of lower-level knowledge; for
example, knowing the meaning of a particular
word. The third level, application, is concerned
with the learner’s ability to translate the first
two levels into practice. For example, a learner
might understand the difference between feet
and inches, but measuring the width of the top
of a table in feet and inches is an application of
that understanding. Taken together, these first
three levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy can be considered to be the levels that have to do with “content.” That is, the lowest three levels deal with
the recollection, understanding, or application
of content knowledge. In contrast, the highest
three levels—analysis, synthesis, and evaluation—are not directly related to content. Rather,
these levels are related to thinking processes
that analyze, synthesize, or evaluate content
knowledge. Sometimes these higher three levels
of Bloom’s Taxonomy are referred to as “higherorder” thinking skills. The chief point we would
like to make about Bloom’s Taxonomy is that there
are three levels that deal with “content knowledge” and three levels that deal with “thinking
processes.” See Figure 7.1 for a graphic representation of this.
As we said, science educators decided it
was best to emphasize the thinking processes of
scientists and to deemphasize the factual content in science since the content changes so rap-
PART
134 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
2
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
PROBLEM-SOLVING
PROCESSES
Higher-Order Thinking
Level 6: Evaluation
Level 5: Synthesis (thinking, problem solving, processes)
Level 4: Analysis
Level 3: Application
Level 2: Comprehension (learning, concepts, skills)
Level 1: Knowledge
Lower-Level Thinking
CONTENT
Figure 7.1
idly. In terms of Bloom’s Taxonomy, we would
say that the people responsible for developing
curricula decided to change the focus of science
education for children. In the past, the emphasis
had been on remembering and understanding
science content. Especially in the elementary
grades, it’s now considered best to emphasize
the higher level thinking processes (the ones
that scientists make use of) at the expense of
content. It doesn’t mean that children shouldn’t
learn any content. To use science processes,
young children must be exposed in some way
to content. One can’t think about nothing! But
it’s believed that children will become comfortable with science by getting to know the “territory” of science; in other words, by getting
to know what scientists do by investigating
science phenomena the way that scientists do.
Put another way, while it was common in the
past for elementary schools to require children
to remember the factual content of science, the
goal of science education for children today is
more balanced between science processes and
factual content. In some programs, science processes predominate over factual knowledge of
science content. We will discuss some of these
programs in a later section of this chapter. We
would say that a good early childhood science
education program nurtures the child’s wonder
in the same way that a scientist’s investigations
nurture a scientist’s sense of wonder.
Of course, some of the processes that scientists use are too advanced for young children.
They are developmentally inappropriate as
instructional goals. Others, however, are a good
match to the young child’s typical capabilities.
In fact, some of these “basic” processes can be
used by very young children at the preschool
level. In the next two sections, we will discuss
these basic processes as well as some of the processes that are developmental mismatches for
young children.
Basic Science Processes
Considered Appropriate
for Young Children
There are a variety of basic science processes
that young children can become engaged in; for
example, observing, classifying, communicating, measuring, and, making predictions. We
will briefly describe each of these processes and
give examples of how young children may use
them in science activities.
Observing: Young children are constantly
observing. They observe the science phenomena
in their world just as they observe social inter-
CHAPTER
7
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 135
actions. As young “scientists,” they should be
encouraged to observe more thoroughly. For
example, you might invite a group of 4–5 year
olds to observe a butterfly and try to paint one.
Tell them to be sure to get the spots and markings. That kind of careful observation is the type
of observation that scientists (and painters) must
often do. The following activities are examples
of things to do with young children to nurture
their observation skills. Chapter 8, which specifically deals with activities designed to develop
a preschooler’s understanding of science, will
also share several activities which require the
child to use her or his observation skills.
Activity for
Future Teachers 7.1
(With live organisms)
It’s important that you learn as teachers of young
children not to be too squeamish about working
with live organisms. Otherwise, you might transfer your nervousness about organisms to your
students. For example, if you don’t like handling
worms with your fingers, then use a suitable substitute like a pen, a pencil, or a hairpin. Acquire a small
collection of live organisms such as mealworms,
wax moths, or fruit flies. Mealworms can typically
be purchased at a pet store. Depending on the season, wax moths can be found at a bait shop. Fruit
flies can sometimes be captured from your kitchen
and placed in clear vials. Place appropriate food in
the container that you keep them in; for example,
cereal along with pieces of apple or banana for the
mealworms, or honey for the fruit flies. Clear plastic
containers used to sell small portions of food (such
as pies or sandwiches) are ideal for mealworms or
wax moths. Be sure to punch holes in the tops of
the containers so the organisms can breathe (You
can put porous tape over the top of the containers
for fruit flies). Observe your collection of organisms
for a few weeks (That’s how long it takes for larva
to reach the adult stage). Use a magnifying glass
as well as your naked eye. You should eventually be able to observe examples of the following
stages within the life cycle of your organism: an
egg, a larva (worm), a pupa, and an adult. In the
case of the fruit flies, the eggs are extremely small.
They look a bit like a grain of sugar—only more
oval—and can often be observed on the walls of
your vials. The adult wax moths can fly. The adult
mealworms can jump and can sometimes fly for
short distances. Pupas are inactive and usually have
a coating and coloration to help protect them and
hide them from predators. Although they are typically dormant, you can touch the pupa of a mealworm and it will shake violently before it goes back
to its inactive state. Record your daily observations
of these organisms in your journal.
Activity
for Children 7.1
(With live organisms)
Give each group of 4 children a collection of live
organisms such as fruit flies, mealworms, or wax
moths. Provide enough magnifying glasses for
each child to have her or his own. Ask them to try
to find examples of the following: eggs, larvae,
pupas, and adults. Have the children observe these
organisms each day for about 5–10 minutes.
Activity for
Future Teachers 7.2
Take time to observe the moon over a period of
time of at least 28 days. Record your notes of these
observations and include any drawings which
help you to communicate what you observed.
Share your observations with the other students
in this course. 6
Classifying: We have already discussed classification as an intellectual capability in previous
chapters, especially in Chapter 4’s discussion
of classification and class inclusion. But science
topics are replete with opportunities for classification and many areas of science depend upon
classification for organization of their knowledge bases.
136 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
Activity for
Future Teachers 7.3
Obtain a small collection of rocks from backyards,
school grounds, building supply and gardening
stores, or shops specializing in rocks and minerals. 7
Spend about 15 minutes examining each rock. Also,
use a magnifier to observe each rock’s structure
more closely. You may want to devise a chart to
help you distinguish these rocks from each other
and to refer to when communicating with others
about them. Share your observations about the
characteristics of each rock with the other students
in your early childhood methods of science teaching class.
Activity
for Children 7.2
Distribute a variety of either white or black rocks
to groups composed of 4 children (approximate
ages 8 and higher); for example, white rocks such
as kaolinite, quartz, calcite, feldspar and marble
or black rocks such as anthracite coal, magnetite,
graphite, and galena. Make sure that each group
has only white rocks or only black rocks. Tell the
children to figure out how to tell each of the rocks
apart. Color won’t be much help to them since all
the rocks for their group will be of one color. Have
them show their rocks to the rest of your class of
children and communicate to the other children
their ideas about how to tell these rocks apart.
Activity
for Children 7.3
Have a “collections” day! Invite children to bring their
own collections and provide some of your own. Collections might include dolls, GI Joes, spoons, baseball cards, stickers, coins, marbles, shells, stamps,
hardware, rocks and minerals, buttons, animal
figurines, and leaves (during the autumn). Have the
children sort them into their own categories based
on whatever makes sense to them. Ask them why
they have sorted these things in this way.
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2
Counting and Measuring: There are many
thinking processes and skills which are used in
both science and mathematics. For example, scientists often depend upon precise measurement
and quantification, and mathematics is applied
in fields like engineering and architecture. The
connections between mathematics and science—
and between mathematics and the world—are
one of the ten standards (goals) identified by the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 8
S T A N D A R D S
Connections: Instructional programs from
prekindergarten through grade 12 should
enable
all students to—
• Recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas
• Understand how mathematical ideas interconnect
and build on one another to produce a coherent
whole
• Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts
outside of mathematics.
Source: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics,
Principles and Standards (2000)
Young children like to count things; for
example, how many mealworms in the container, how many tiles on the floor of the school’s
hallway, or how many fish in the aquarium.
Activity
for Children 7.4
(Clay Boats, ages 6–8)
Give each child a ball of oil-based clay 9 and a container of water. Tell them to see if they can make
it float. In other words, their task is to make a clay
boat. Children will explore ways to shape the clay
and then test its floatability in the water. Within
20–40 minutes, some children will be successful.
Repeat the activity for 2–3 days, allowing 30–60
minutes for the activity plus clean-up time. When
individual children have succeeded in making a
boat that floats, ask them how many pennies it
CHAPTER
7
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 137
holds. Challenge them to see who can make the
boat that holds the most pennies. This activity
combines the need to count with the task of making a good boat, which requires them to develop
understandings related to density, specific gravity,
and boat construction. 10
When exploring pendulums, children might
count how many times per minute the pendulum swings back and forth while comparing the
effects of different pendulum lengths or weights
with each other. However, this is something that is
rarely initiated on the part of a young child before
grade level 3 because it involves coordinating two
types of measuring—counting and timing.
We have already discussed measuring in some
depth in Chapter 6. But which kinds of measuring opportunities are available in early childhood
science activities? Measuring temperatures can
be interesting for older children who are still in
the early childhood stage; for example, taking
the outdoor temperature readings as part of their
daily weather observations. 11 Times that the temperature readings are taken should also be noted
and recorded by the children who do the temperature readings for that day.
Activity
for Children 7.5
(Ice Cubes and Water, Ages 7 and up)
Have the children fill ice cube trays with water and
place them in the school’s freezer. Later that day
(or the following day), have them retrieve the ice
cubes from the school’s freezer. Have each child
place a paper towel on his or her desk and then
distribute the ice cubes, one ice cube to each child.
Give each child a thermometer. Tell the children to
take the temperatures of their ice cubes by holding
the tips of their thermometers against their ice
cubes. Have the children observe their ice cubes as
they melt on the paper towels. Tell the children to
take the temperatures of the water on the paper
towels after the ice cubes have melted. Ask the
children to compare their temperatures taken
before and after the melting of the ice cubes.
Measuring of weights, lengths, or capacities
may also occur during early childhood science
activities. Some of these may be suggested by the
teacher (for example, how many ounces or milliliters does the shampoo bottle hold?) and some
may occur naturally in the context of a project
unit (for example, how many ounces of orange
juice does each child need in order to get 60 calories of orange juice?). Remember that young children will measure non-standard and informal
amounts before using standard measurements;
thus, they may measure how many shampoo
bottles fill a gallon milk jug before they measure
how many ounces are held by a shampoo bottle.
See Chapter 6 for more on measurement.
Predicting: Scientists are continually making
predictions about the observations they will
make and the experiments they will conduct.
They learn from their predictions regardless of
whether they are right or wrong because results
of observations and experiments are always
informative. Results help scientists to decide
what to do next in the way of observations or
experiments, and the same is true for the young
child. Children as young as 3–4 years of age can
be taught to make predictions. Some of these
predictions are verbal while others are implied.
In the following activity, predictions may be
made with the body rather than with words.
Activity
for Children 7.6
(Pendulum in the Classroom, Ages 3–5) 12
For this activity, you need some type of sizable ball
such as a tether ball and you need to hang it from
the ceiling so that it rests about 2 inches from the
floor. Also, you need approximately 6 square feet of
space free where the ball is hung. After you secure
the ball to the ceiling with an appropriate string or
rope, test it. Make sure that it swings freely, without
touching the floor, and that it stays attached to its
fasteners on the ceiling. Allow some free play with
the ball before you begin the activity. Most children
will want to play with it. They may try to throw it.
However, since it is attached to a rope, they will
(continued)
PART
138 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
soon learn that it is easier to try to “pass” it to each
other by holding the ball at a certain distance from
the center and then letting go. They should become
familiar with this feature of the hanging ball before
they participate in the activity. If they ask you what
its name is, tell them that it is a pendulum.
To begin the activity, place a doll or another
sizeable object some place on the floor near the
center of the pendulum’s swinging path. Ask the
children “Do you know where to put the doll so the
pendulum will knock the doll over?” Most children
will enjoy guessing where they should place the
doll in order to make the path of the pendulum
swing in such a way that the ball knocks over the
doll. In science education terms, they are predicting
where to stand in order to make the ball knock the
doll over.
As children become successful at this task, you
can make it more challenging by placing the doll
further from the center of the pendulum’s swinging path. You should also ask them where they can
place the doll so that it cannot be knocked over by
the pendulum (Kamii and DeVries, 1978, Chapter 8,
pages 134–152).
Young children should be encouraged
to predict before they experiment or observe
results. The question “Will it sink or float?”
requires the child to make a prediction. After
the child places the object in water, the child will
be able to observe whether or not this prediction was correct. The question “Do mealworms
like apple?” requires a prediction followed by
an observation. Young children should be asked
to make predictions whenever they are about to
experiment or make an observation. After they
have observed, they should be asked to tell what
happened and to try to explain why that particular result occurred. Jack Easley called this
the Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) approach (in
Duckworth, et al., 1990, Chapter 3). Questions
that facilitate this approach are phrased along
these lines: What will happen if? (This question
requires a prediction) What happened (This question requires an observation) Why do you think
that happened? (This question requires the child
to think about possible explanations).
Activity
for Children 7.7
(Sink and Float)
Give each child a container of water and a small
collection of objects. Some should sink and others
should float. For example, a collection of marbles,
small pieces of wood, screws, nuts, bolts, and
plastic objects would be good. Ask them to find out
which objects sink and which objects float. When
you distribute their collections of objects, distribute
a simple chart with them. It should look roughly
like this:
What it is
I Predict (Sink or Float?)
2
They can write the name of the object with invented
spellings. If they can’t write, they can draw a picture
of the object (adjust the spaces in the chart to
accommodate their drawings). Teach them to test
each object one at a time. They should first make a
prediction and record what they predict will happen
under “I predict.” Next, they should test the object in
water and record the result under “What Happened?”
Finally, in a couple of words, they should try to
explain why the object sank or floated.
What Happened?
Why?
CHAPTER
7
Communicating: People often have an image
of scientists pursuing some esoteric question
on their own in a lab coat. But scientists often
work in teams and, even when they don’t, they
must communicate their findings with other
scientists and with society at large. Communication involves reporting findings, debating explanations, and discussing ideas, as well
as writing. Children’s communication may
include talking (Gallas, 1994 and Gallas, 1995),
arguing and debating (Easley, in Duckworth et
al, 1990, Chapter 3), writing, drawing, singing,
and dancing (Gallas, 1994). It’s useful for young
children to keep a journal, even before they have
achieved much skill at writing. They can include
their drawings of the things they have observed
and can tell their stories—about the experiences
they associate with their science learning—
through pictures and invented spellings. It’s
also important to remember that discussion of
children’s findings is as important as the actual
hands-on exploration that they pursue; that is,
young children learn best about science through
hands-on exploration of science phenomena,
but they must also carry out discussions with
others about the things that they observe while
exploring these phenomena. This discussion
facilitates personal reflection about the handson experience. Teachers need to facilitate this
discussion after the experimenting and observing has occurred.
We should also keep in mind the world of
the young child (See Chapter 3 for more on this
topic). Young children don’t necessarily make
a distinction between “science” and the rest of
the world. Words like “science” are adult terms.
The young child is curious about everything.
Thus, if a child brings up a topic which seems
unrelated to the topic that you, the teacher,
thinks is the topic of discussion, it’s not appropriate to tell him or her “We’re not talking about
that right now.” For example, Gallas (1994) tells
the story of a first grade child named John who
wanted to write about rappers in his science
journal because “it’s so exciting!” (because rap
is exciting). Gallas asked him “How does that
make it science when it’s something that’s exciting?” and he replied
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 139
‘cause sometimes they have wires hooked
up like record players ... and that’s electric....
‘cause like microphones are electric, and
some microphones, they have wires hooked
up to the ... radio ... [and] the pianos and
stuff and they got it plugged in, and those
are electric (p. 93).
In this case, the child was thinking about
electricity when he wrote about rappers in his
science journal. To a young child, whatever she
or he is talking about may be related to the current classroom discussion. It’s better to listen
and try to see what sense a child is making of
the discussion than to try to redirect his or her
thoughts to the topic you have in mind. As we
pointed out in Chapter 3, much more can be
accomplished by listening.
Listening and observing are the primary
means of assessing a child’s understanding
of science. A teacher can learn far more about
what a particular child knows by listening to
her or him (as Karen Gallas did in the conversation cited above about John’s excitement for
rappers) than she can learn from administering
a test about the science curriculum. Likewise,
a teacher can learn much by observing what a
child chooses to do while engaged in the clay
boats task described in Activity for Children 7.4.
The most important thing a teacher can do
after distributing hands-on science materials to
children is to roam among the groups of children and observe what they do with the materials. You will, of course, need to supervise the
children’s behavior for purposes of safety and
order, but your chief preoccupation should be
to learn about the interests, questions and ideas
of your children.
As students progress in their writing abilities, student journals will become another
important way that you can assess your students’ knowledge and understandings. Assessment can have a variety of purposes, but the
most helpful types of assessments for teachers
are those that provide them with insights about
their students’ ideas. Knowledge of your students’ ideas will help you to decide what to do
next during your instruction.
140 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
Processes Considered
Developmentally Inappropriate
for Young Children
There are other science processes that are
not developmentally appropriate for early childhood; for example, conducting experiments by
testing hypotheses and controlling variables.
We will illustrate this with a specific teaching
activity. A popular science activity to do with
children and adults of all ages is to explore pendulums. We have already shared one example
of a preschool activity with pendulums earlier
in this chapter. Other activities include pendulum bowling (using pendulums to knock over
Activity for
Future Teachers 7.4
Determining the Cause or Causes of a
Pendulum’s Speed
(Instructions for the professor)
Distribute the following materials to each cooperative learning group: steel washers of two or
more sizes (obtain these from a hardware store),
a ball of string, and a scissors. Make a pendulum
yourself with a string about two feet long and a
heavy washer. Introduce the activity by swinging
your pendulum back and forth and talking about
pendulums. Ask your students for examples of
pendulums that they encounter in their everyday
lives. Tell them that their task as group members is
to work with the other members of their group to
determine what makes a pendulum swing faster
or slower. Don’t give them any more guidance that
this. For example, don’t provide a working definition of “faster” or “slower.” That should be left to
them if they desire to develop one. Tell them to
use the materials provided to answer this question.
Also, tell them that they will need to report on their
findings to the other members of the class and try
to convince the rest of the class of their conclusions. Allow about 40 minutes for their experiments
and allow at least 5 minutes per group for presenting their reports and conclusions to the class.
PART
2
inverted golf tees) and pendulums with salt (or
sand) in cups that have small holes punched in
the bottoms of the cups so they will leave a trail
as they swing back and forth and around.
Another activity is to ask children to determine what makes pendulums swing faster or
slower (as in Activity for Future Teachers 7.4), but
this is not developmentally appropriate for early
childhood. Older children can go about this in a
systematic way. For example, they may vary the
length of the string while making sure that the
weights attached to the pendulum string stay
the same. In other words, they are controlling
the variable of weight. Or, they may vary the
weights of the objects that they attach to the pendulums while keeping the length of the string
the same (controlling the variable of length).
They won’t vary both length and weight at the
same time because that would confuse the interpretation of their results (If both things vary,
then they don’t know which factor made the
difference). Young children don’t typically go
about their experiments in such systematic fashion. They often vary many things at once and
come to a conclusion without worrying about
isolating specific factors that might be responsible for the pendulum’s speed.
We discussed the nature of the young child’s
thinking in depth in Chapter 3. Because of the
young child’s preoperational thinking, we recommend against using activities that require
young children to test hypotheses or control
variables. For the same reason, we do not recommend holding science fairs at the early childhood level. At least, we recommend against
the type of science fair that requires children
to test hypotheses. 13 Although some authors
have developed approaches which claim that
young children have succeeded at considering these variables, (1995) we have our doubts.
However, we will not go into these doubts here
since it would be more appropriate to do so in a
research article. Suffice it to say that most early
childhood and elementary science educators
believe that the practice of requiring young children to test hypotheses and control variables is
developmentally inappropriate. A teacher can
CHAPTER
7
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 141
always structure a classroom activity so that
each child has a container of plant seeds that are
being cared for in specific ways. However, the
question arises as to whether or not the young
child fully understands the variables at play for
these types of activities; that is, whether or not
the structuring of the experiment came from
the children or their teacher. If it came from the
teacher, what are the odds that the child understands the purpose of structuring the experiment in that way?
programs is that children need to experience
content through the context of hands-on exploration before they begin to commit specific content to memory. The constructivist curriculum of
the 90s—for example, Full Option Science Systems
(FOSS), SCIS 3+, Insights, Delta Science Modules,
and Science, Technology, and Children—reflect the
same balances as the 60s curricula. Because of
their profound impact on ideas about teaching
science to young children, we will deal with ESS
and SCIS at this point in the text.
Using Children’s Ideas
to Develop Instructional
Activities: The Curricula
of the 60s and 90s
Elementary Science
Study (ESS)
One of the most enjoyable (for the teacher)
and engaging (for the child) aspects of Elementary Science Study (ESS) was its emphasis on
play. The authors didn’t call it play. They chose
to call it “work.” But it was “play” to the children who participated in the ESS instructional
activities. The materials for the activities could
be acquired in one of two ways: 1. The teachers could locate them by consulting the list of
materials provided in the Teacher’s Guides and
gathering these materials on their own, or 2. The
teacher or school could purchase a classroom kit
for any particular instructional unit. Classroom
kits provided enough of the necessary materials
for each child in a classroom of 30 children to
explore the materials on his or her own. Here’s
a quote about the theory underlying ESS, taken
from The ESS Reader (Education Development
Center, 1970).
A variety of curricula that respond to the
questions of children have been developed for
use at the elementary levels, beginning with
kindergarten and ending at grade 6. The first
set of these curricula were developed during
the late 50s and the 60s. They were named Elementary Science Study (ESS), Science Curriculum
Improvement Study (SCIS), and Science: A Process
Approach (SAPA). Each of these curriculum programs emphasized science processes to a greater
or lesser degree. If we were to draw a continuum
representing how much each of these programs
emphasized science processes versus science
content, it might look like this (see below).
In other words, the traditional textbook
approach to teaching science emphasizes content but ignores science processes for the most
part. SCIS reflects a roughly equal balance
between science content and processes. SAPA
and ESS are more concerned with processes
than with content. The philosophy behind these
Traditional Textbooks
... our approach should follow a ... strategy
... that does not even pretend to be perfectly
planned and leaves occasional decisions
to chance and to the opportunities of the
moment for a particular child... (Education
Development Center, 1970, p. 2).
SCIS
SAPA
ESS
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
Content
Processes
142 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
In other words, the child’s personal interests and questions were pursued rather than
the questions of the teacher or a set of required
learning objectives or content standards. If the
child learned about some of the content contained in the science content standards, that
was an ancillary benefit of the activity—not a
primary goal. In this type of classroom setting,
“plastic sheets and tubes, metal rods, wooden
balances, aquaria, leaves, copper wire, clay,
mealworms, microscopes, and water are as natural as books and paper (Education Development Center, 1970, p. 3).” In other words, there
must be “enough stuff” for children to explore
(Hawkins, Frances, 1969, p. 51–61) and these
personal explorations of the children cannot be
replaced with academic talk or readings from a
textbook. As The ESS Reader put it,
pushing a lever or turning a crank, watching the fall of a column of water, seeing a
yeast cell bud, [and] balancing on a swing
are experiences which cannot be replaced by
verbal formulations... (Education Development Center, 1970, p. 4).
To reiterate, no amount of talking or explaining science concepts to children can substitute
for the actual hands-on exploration of science
phenomena. The ESS curriculum was popular
in elementary schools for about 25 years. However, the majority of elementary schools continued to use a textbook approach to teaching
children about science, despite the research evidence that showed a hands-on approach works
best. Eventually, during the 1990s, many of the
ESS instructional units resurfaced as DELTA science modules. Similar units can be found in constructivist elementary science programs such as
INSIGHTS, and Science, Technology, and Children.
Science Curriculum
Improvement Study (SCIS)
Another popular elementary science curriculum that was begun during the 1960s was the
Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS).
This was a comprehensive curriculum of handson instructional activities in the areas of physical science and life science (Karplus, 1964). The
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2
life science instructional units were especially
well designed. While children can usually do
experiments of some type when learning about
physical science, life science activities more
typically require observation on the part of the
children; for example, observing the growth of
plants on a daily basis by noting and recording
the growth of each plant in millimeters or fractions of inches. Or, children may observe the
activity of mealworms and find live examples of
each stage of a mealworm’s life cycle (See Activity for Future Teachers 7.1). The SCIS program
went through several generations of improvements and publications and can still be found in
classrooms today. The materials were provided
in the form of classroom kits which provided
enough materials for each child to explore on
her or his own.
Hands-On, Minds-On Science
Teaching: The Learning Cycle
One of the criticisms of ESS curricula that
teachers often made was that they thought it
looked too much like play. Of course, research
has demonstrated since then that good science teaching should have a strong element of
play in it. However, it’s possible for children
to enjoy the play experience and not learn that
much from it. Consequently, a new term came
to be used about science instruction during the
1990s. It was said that it’s not enough for science learning to be hands-on. It also has to be
minds-on (Duckworth, Easley, Hawkins, and
Henriques, 1990). The structure of a good science lesson today must include at least both
of these two elements: hands-on exploration,
and “minds-on” reflection or discussion of the
hands-on experiences. In this section, we will
explain the meaning of these terms in more
detail. The structure of the lesson was articulated in articles by David Hawkins (in The ESS
Reader, Education Development Center, 1970)
and Robert Karplus, the senior author of SCIS.
Karplus called the structure of a science lesson
The Learning Cycle (Karplus, 1964). For both of
these authors, the first phase of a good lesson
on science is the hands-on phase.
CHAPTER
7
Phase 1: Hands-On “Exploration”: It’s important for you, the reader, to know that there are
particular assumptions about learning behind
this phase of a lesson. We will state these assumptions in the form of a premise (Premise #1).
Premise #1: Children learn best through
real-life experiences. A good math or science lesson includes hands-on experiences,
involving the manipulation of materials or
observation of living things. A good social
studies lesson begins with an authentic situation. A good language arts lesson begins
with the natural language of children. The
first phase of a lesson organized as a learning cycle is called the exploration phase.
As a sort of abbreviation for this principle,
we will use the term “hands-on activity.” It is
important to note, however, that we are not
necessarily referring to cut-and-paste activities. For example, cutting, pasting, and coloring
windmills is not “hands-on” science when the
concept being developed is the wind. A “handson” exploration of wind currents might involve
testing a student-constructed windmill outside
to determine how fast or how slowly it spins as
it is manipulated to face in different directions.
On the other hand, cutting and pasting might
be considered to be “hands-on” if the concepts
being developed were basic shapes. In other
words, for an experience to qualify as hands-on
learning, it must relate to, and help a student to
develop ideas about, the concept which is the
focus of the lesson.
The selection of concepts to be developed
during lessons should be based on the questions and thoughts children share during their
natural interactions with peers and adults. For
example, from Piagetian research on children’s
thinking, we already know about many of the
ideas children have on specific topics of science.
We know, for example, that young children are
often confused about shadows and that they
have many interesting ideas about them (See
Chapter 2). Some children think shadows “come
from” the night. Other children believe they
come out of—and are attached to—the object
casting the shadow. A good lesson on shadows
will begin by having children explore their ideas
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 143
further by casting shadows themselves, using a
light source and some small objects.
When we help children to develop their own
ideas about the world around them, to test them
out and extend them, we are helping them to
develop their knowledge of the world. This is far
more important than trying to pass on our own
knowledge—a knowledge most young children
will be unable to truly understand at this stage.
Phase 2: Minds-On “Concept Development” 14:
As important as the hands-on activities (exploration) phase of the learning cycle is, research has
shown that this is not enough. Hands-on experiences must be followed by minds-on experiences
if true learning is to occur. This second phase
has been labeled the concept invention phase
of the learning cycle, because it is during this
phase that the student reflects upon the handson experience in which he has partici­pated and
begins to come up with explanations for whatever has been observed. Usually, this reflection
about the hands-on experience can be facilitated in one of two ways: 1. through questions
posed by either the teacher or other students,
and 2. through discussion and debate in a small
group or with the whole class.
Premise 2: Hands-on experiences alone do
not necessarily foster learning. Students
must be engaged in thoughtful reflection
about these experiences in order for learning
to result. Thoughtful reflection can be facilitated through discussion—with the whole
class, in small groups, or individually, with
another child or the teacher.
For science teaching in the primary grades,
it is helpful for teachers to abandon the idea that
they must pass on the “correct” explanations to
their students. One problem with traditional science teaching has been that textbooks, in trying
to express the best explanations for science topics, inadvertently oversimplify the complexity
and debate that ordinarily are involved in scientific findings. As a consequence, students are
given the mistaken impression that their own
ideas about these topics don’t matter. They infer
that they need only to memorize the textbook’s
explanations for whatever phenomena they are
144 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
studying, and this will make them knowledgeable. But the process of discovery in science
is actually very controversial. It entails much
debate and involves convincing others of one’s
opinions through the use of evidence obtained
through careful observation and experiment.
The ideas that guide scientists in this discovery process are hotly debated. If students don’t
experience this same type of debate about ideas
they understand—and they best understand
their own ideas—they will miss out on this major
insight into how science works (Duckworth,
et al., 1990, chapter 3).
In the concept invention phase of a lesson, the teacher must encourage discussion
and debate! This is why so many constructivist educators say that correct answers should
not be provided during this phase of a lesson.
As Easley has pointed out, “firm belief in one’s
knowledge is a dangerous thing” because of
“what it can do to discourage others and oneself
from learning” (Duckworth, et al., 1990, p. 65).
In other words, memorizing facts, formulas, or
laws of science creates the illusion that you do
not need to learn anything more about the topic
in question. After all, the experts have already
decided everything for you! Why would any
student think further about his own ideas about
everyday science phenomena when the experts
had already explained them and the teacher
has reinforced this by emphasizing the correct
explanations in lectures and tests?
Discussion during this phase must encourage acceptance of all ideas and explanations.
There will be plenty of time later for students
to learn about the correct explanations. At this
point, it is important that children learn two
things: (1) how to articulate their own ideas
about what they have experienced and observed
(This is, after all, what scientists must also learn
to do in order to communicate their findings
to other scientists!) and (2) how to discuss and
debate the ideas of others respectfully while at
the same time requiring others to prove their
ideas by providing evidence to support them.
The second of these two learning goals for your
students is especially challenging for primary
teachers, since their students are just beginning
PART
2
to develop a logical form of reasoning (Piaget,
1926; 1928) and their discussions don’t always
appear to be logical.
Many teachers are troubled by the ideas
that they should not give their students the correct explanations and that they should encourage debate among their students. “But won’t
they fight?” is a typical question. Rest assured,
we are not advocating that you encourage
your students to fight with each other. Teaching your students to respectfully listen to, and
sometimes disagree with, the ideas of others
is a basic social skill you should emphasize as
part of your classroom management. Another
question some teachers ask is: “Won’t having
the students disagree only make them more
confused? They really want to know the right
answers!” Easley’s response to this question is
especially instructive.
In my experience, more challenging tasks
can motivate more children and can help
them develop their confidence, especially if
they are supported by their teachers. What is
puzzling to many teachers and future teachers... is that students working on such problems often disagree with their peers and are
not able to resolve problems, and yet they
are not discouraged. It is as though children,
like scientists, know that they are better off if
they can work out ideas themselves than if
they are given the most authoritative answer
they do not understand. (Duckworth, et al.,
1990, p. 65)
It’s not the students who become discouraged at not knowing the correct explanations—
at least, not at the level of the primary grades.
More likely, it’s the teachers!
It is also interesting that students can work
together, even when they disagree, and not be
discouraged. One of the authors has made similar observations during his own nine years of
experience as an elementary science teacher.
Some teachers are natural discussion leaders and need no particular guidance in how to
make the most of the concept invention phase of
a lesson. Others are less confident of their ability
to teach students to respect all contributions to
the class dialogue.
CHAPTER
7
Depending on the grade level and intellectual maturity of the students, some teachers
may prefer to intermix the exploration and concept invention phases of a lesson. Teachers who
do this will interact individually with students,
asking them to show the teacher what they are
doing and to articulate their explanations for
what they observe, while the teacher interacts
with them during the hands-on activities. When
this is done, any “challenging” the teacher may
do is done one-on-one with each student.
Let’s look at a couple of examples of how the
development of a concept might be facilitated
through classroom dialogue. The following discussion occurred in a grade 1–2 classroom (Gallas, 1994, p. 103–104). 15 The children are trying
to answer the question “How did nature begin?”
Robin: Nature was made... with dirt... and
seeds... and the ... sun.
Shelly: Well... how was the sun made? How
was dirt made? ... How was oceans made?
...
Brandy: I think... nature was made ... from...
a seed ... under dirt, and then ... maybe ...
roots started like coming, and then ... they
dropped more seeds and then ... all that
[the] 16 plants came.
Robin: Maybe.
Donald: ... You know how there were plants
way long ago? For dinosaurs to eat? Well
maybe the leaves fell off, sometimes ... and
they went ... deep into the ground, and you
know the stems? The other part rotted ...
and they started to grow nature.
Brandy: ... but... how is the dirt ... made?
This type of discussion may, at first glance
appear unproductive. But which would you,
as a teacher of young children, prefer? Should
your children memorize and repeat what you
have said without understanding it, and then
reproduce it when they take tests? Or, should
they relate what they are learning and thinking
about to the ideas which they already have and
develop these ideas, through conversation, to
the point where they mean something to them.
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 145
Now, let’s look at another classroom dialogue
that occurred in the same classroom (Gallas,
1995, p. 33–34).
Ellen: ... How did rice begin life? How did a
plant begin? What made the seed?
Molly: Maybe it started out with a kind of
grass, like humans started out as animals
and it got more like rice.
John: Humans did start as animals.
Shelly: Yeah, life started with grass ‘cause
rice is like a grass.
Ellen: I know, ‘cause grass seeds start
turning like ricey.
John: In the beginning, before people, we
were monkeys.
...
Shelly: You know how rice is a plant? And
it’s also a grass. So... the seed from the
grass ... would drop off and some would
blow away and then there would be more
and more.
These children are taking turns making
comments and the teacher deserves much
credit for facilitating this type of dialogue in her
classroom. The children are respectful of each
others right to contribute. They are not completely influenced by each others ideas (Note,
for example, John’s repeated emphasis on the
evolution of humans from animals). But that is
to be expected of young children in the egocentric period of development. Despite this, there is
mental processing of ideas happening for these
children. That’s the purpose of the concept
development phase of the learning cycle—to
encourage reflection and mental processing of
the concept or concepts related to the lesson.
Phase 3: Application (Optional): This is the third
phase of a learning cycle lesson, and it is optional.
The purpose of this phase is to help learners to mentally relate their experiences—and the
ideas they have developed about them—to other
experiences they have had, and to apply them
to other situations. For example, during the first
two phases of the learning cycle, children may
146 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
have explored the sinking and floating of various objects in water and discussed what makes
an object floatable. During the third phase of
such a lesson, the teacher might ask students to
think of situations in their personal experience
outside of school where they noticed things that
float; for example, boats on lakes, rivers, or the
ocean, and toys in a bathtub or swimming pool.
Questions that cause students to reflect on
the nature of the academic discipline—in this
case, science—are also appropriate during this
phase. For example, for the lesson on which
objects sink or float, the teacher might ask her
children “When we say that something floats,
what do we mean? What does that word—
float—mean for each of us?” Asking students
to clarify meanings introduces students to the
nature of science because scientists must articulate operational definitions in order to communicate with each other.
Premise 3: When students are challenged to
apply their knowledge to personal experiences and new situations, their understanding is broadened because they see the
connections between knowledge and everyday living.
Summary of the Learning Cycle: To summarize, the learning cycle includes three phases:
exploration (hands-on activity), concept invention
PART
2
(minds-on discussion or interaction), and application (extension to their own experiences and to new
situations). Figure 7.2 depicts the progression
through these three phases. Note that the third
phase, application, naturally “cycles back” to
phase 1. In other words, after completing phase 3
of a lesson, a new lesson should be begun which
carries out a new hands-on activity (exploration)
suggested by the learning that occurred during
phases 2 and phase 3 of the previous lesson.
Most lessons on physical science topics
can be completed in a day because children
can experiment with the materials, observe the
results, and then discuss them. But some life science lessons take much longer. They must often
extend over a period of days because plants
take time to grow and pupa take time to hatch.
The life cycle of a butterfly, from egg to adult,
can take anywhere from a month to a year! 17
However, there are some lessons for life science
that can have a hands-on (exploration) phase
as well as a minds-on (concept development)
phase and be completed during the same period
of the same day (taking a total of about 30–50
minutes). The following activity is an example
of such a lesson. However, it would serve only
as the “opening” lesson and would need to be
followed up with several more sessions which
cycle back and forth between the hands-on and
minds-on phases.
The Learning Cycle
Figure 7.2
CHAPTER
7
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 147
An Example of a Lesson Following the Learning Cycle: We have chosen to describe this lesson in the format of a learning cycle lesson plan,
so that you, the reader, can see how a learning
cycle lesson plan is structured. (See Box 7.1).
Notice that this lesson plan included all three
phases of a learning cycle lesson, even though
we said that the application phase is optional.
Box 7.2 provides a prototype of a lesson plan
format for a learning cycle with explanations for
each phase of the lesson.
Box 7.1
A Lesson Plan About the
Life Cycle of a Mealworm
Materials Needed: Mealworms (obtain these from a pet shop), small plastic containers such as those
used for take-out food (Be sure to punch holes in the tops so the mealworms can breathe), appropriate
food such as oatmeal or breakfast cereal and a piece of apple or banana, and magnifying glasses.
Exploration (Hands-On): Give each pair of students a container of mealworms and two magnifying
glasses. Invite them to explore the organisms by looking at them with their naked eyes as well as with
the magnifiers. They can take the tops off of the containers, but they should make sure that none of the
mealworms gets away from them. It’s okay for the children to observe a particular mealworm on the
table or desk for a while and then return it to its container.
Concept Development (Minds-On): While the children are observing the mealworms, ask them if they
can see anything that looks like an “egg.” Tell them the eggs are smaller and shaped like an egg (oval).
When any child thinks s(he) has found one, check to observe with him or her. Allow him or her to show
it to the other children so they know what to look for in their own containers. Next, tell the children
that the worms eventually change to pupas. Pronounce this word for them and write it on the classroom
board for them to see. Tell them that the pupas are not active. Tell the children that they may look as if
they’re dead but they are really in an “asleep” (dormant) stage so they can store up energy for the time
when they will hatch into adults. Tell them that the pupa will become a beetle. Show them that you can
poke a pupa gently with a fingernail or a pencil and it will momentarily behave as if it is awake, shaking
its body for a short while before it goes back to its resting phase.
Application (to Everyday Life): In a discussion circle, ask the children what they learned about mealworms during this lesson. Allow children to share their observations and thoughts as fully as possible in
the time you have allotted for this (5–10 minutes) Ask them if they know of any other insects that change
from one form to another. Let them share any examples of which they are aware.
148 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
PART
2
Box 7.2
Lesson Plan Format 2
for Lessons Following the Learning Cycle
Materials needed: as appropriate
Exploration: This is the hands-on phase of the lesson. For science, mathematics, art, or music, it should
include a hands-on activity. For social studies, it should include an authentic learning activity or simulation; for language arts, a natural language activity. You can introduce your exploration activity with a
task. For example, in a hands-on science activity, you might ask, “Can you do X ?” (e.g., “Can you get
the bulb to light?”) Or you might simply say, “See what you can do with these things!” (e.g., mirrors).
Concept Development: This is the minds-on phase of the lesson. True learning cannot occur unless the
student reflects thoughtfully upon the experience that has been encountered in the exploration phase.
Usually, this reflection is facilitated either through questions (posed by the teacher or other students)
or through discussion and debate with a small group or the whole class. In this phase, the teacher
should encourage discussion and debate. Children should be engaged in articulating their ideas about
what they have experienced or observed. They should also be taught to discuss and debate the ideas
of others respectfully.
Application: In this phase of the lesson, the learners are encouraged to mentally relate their experiences
in the previous two phases of the lesson to other ideas and new situations. Applications to everyday life
situations, such as those that occur with environmental impact considerations, are appropriate. Questions that cause students to reflect on the nature of a specific content or skill area are also helpful.
Content Standards
for Science
Since the late 1980s and the first publication of content standards for mathematics by
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), there has been an active movement
to develop content standards in all subject areas
that are taught from preschool through grade
12. Content standards are statements about
what students should know about a particular
subject area by a specific grade level; for example, by the end of grade 2. There have been three
sets of content standards for science education.
The first published content standards for science education were Benchmarks for Science Literacy (1993). These dealt only with the content
that should be taught at particular levels. Methods of teaching the content were not discussed.
The second publication of science education
standards, National Science Education Standards
(1996), dealt with how to teach as well as with
what to teach. Recently a third set of science edu-
cation standards has been published, the Next
Generation Science Standards (2013).
One example of a science content standard
for early childhood is:
S T A N D A R D S
By the end of the second grade, students
should know that most living things need
water, food, and air.
Source: Benchmarks for Science Literacy, p. 111
Further explanation of each standard is
provided in explanatory material provided just
before each content standard in the full edition
of Benchmarks for Science Literacy.
States typically consult these national standards when developing their instructional goals
for students at particular grade levels, and 26
states were involved in the creation of the Next
Generation Science Standards. School districts
typically adopt or revise the standards of their
states when articulating instructional goals at
CHAPTER
7
the district level; however, most of the states
involved in creating the Next Generation Science
Standards are expected to adopt these standards
as they are. Sometimes districts or states have
developmentally appropriate goals (content
standards) but they do not provide examples
of appropriate activities for helping children
to achieve these standards. In other cases, their
goals may be developmentally inappropriate.
For example, this happens when districts adopt
standards that require students to use developmentally inappropriate thinking processes.
Positive Impacts of Content
Standards On Science Teaching
There has been a mix of reactions to content standards for science. On the positive side,
we can say that there has been more attention
to science education at the elementary level
since content standards emerged. Some states
have chosen to require student assessments
at the elementary levels that are based on science content standards. In these states, school
districts have adopted constructivist science
curriculum programs such as those discussed
in a previous section of this chapter. Teachers
have allotted specific daily times in their students’ schedules for the teaching of science.
Also, there has been more discussion of specific science content standards among teachers as far as which ones are most difficult or
easy for the students to learn and which ones
are developmentally inappropriate. The processes used in developing the Next Generation
Science Standards and also the NCTM Principles
and Standards were especially thorough; for
example, the Next Generation Science Standards
involved educators from 26 states and invited
public comment. The NCTM accepted public
comment for a period of two years before publishing them in their final form.
Negative Impacts of Content
Standards On Science Teaching
On the other hand, there have been some
negative impacts of the science content stan-
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 149
dards on student learning of science. These
include the following.
Standardized Testing Focuses on Content at
the Expense of Process: Although there is no
reason why states must use standardized tests
to assess student achievement of content standards, most states have chosen to do so. It’s been
well established in the field of tests and measurement that it’s difficult to assess higher-level
thinking, including science processes, through
traditional standardized tests. The decision by
the overwhelming majority of states to rely on
standardized testing has resulted in a skewed
focus on lower-level content at the expense of
assessing higher-level thinking and science processes. Because the tests have stressed lowerlevel content learning, districts and teachers
have also stressed these things. In other words,
they are “teaching to the test” instead of teaching the most important science goals. This trivializes science education and also reduces the
amount of engaging science activities that children are involved in. Since research has also
documented a relationship between play and
cognitive development (Rathbone, 1971), standardized testing has also had a negative affect
on the child’s development in general.
When Content Standards Are Developmentally Inappropriate: In some cases, the stated
goals are developmentally inappropriate. For
example, suppose your school district had the
following standard as one of its goals for science
knowledge to be achieved during first grade.
The child will be able to explain that the
earth revolves around the sun and the
moon revolves around the earth.
Now, think about the children discussed in
Chapter 2 who believed that the moon follows
them. Is there any way that this goal could be
considered developmentally appropriate for children who believe that the moon follows them?
The answer is obviously “No!” When the child
has developed further intellectually, this goal
will be appropriate, but it should not be required
in early childhood curriculum. There are many
creative ways to help children to develop this
150 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
understanding—for example, making a classroom-size model of the solar system (or at least
the sun, the earth, and the moon). But even the
most creative approaches to teaching this goal
will be a mismatch to the child’s development
during early childhood, at least for most children.
For cooperative discussion: When district or state
content standards don’t relate to the questions
and ideas of young children, what should you, as
a teacher, do?
Summing up, it’s important to be aware
of the standards that have been articulated for
the levels of children whom you teach. However, it’s also important that you, as a teacher
of young children, make thoughtful judgments
about the developmental appropriateness of
these goals for the young children whom you
teach, based upon your knowledge and experience with these and similar children.
Now, let’s look at another standard—one
taken from the Next Generation Science Standards published in 2013.
Science investigations begin with a question. (Understandings About the Nature of
Science, K–2).
It sounds good, doesn’t it? Who could
argue with the idea that science investigation
begins with a question? But, although the idea
is correct (science investigations do begin with
a question), it’s not necessarily developmentally appropriate. Why not? Because six year old
children are more likely to view what they do
in classrooms as play—not “investigation.” And
the child may not distinguish between “science”
and other activities during her or his day.
How Science Processes interact with Content:
If you think back to the continuum we provided
earlier in the chapter that arranged science textbooks and constructivist elementary science
programs according to how much content versus process that they emphasized, you will realize that there are several ways to deal with the
interaction of science content and science processes. Textbooks focus on science content and
PART
2
largely exclude the higher-level thinking processes of science. Some of the hands-on science
curricula—ESS and SAPA, in particular—deal
with content as more or less an incidental byproduct of the playful hands-on experience. But
the young child is curious by nature and she will
be thinking about science as she plays with the
materials during a hands-on activity. She may
not realize that the things she is contemplating
are “science,” but she will be thinking about
these things nonetheless. For example, when a
young child repeatedly constructs and reconstructs a clay boat, she is thinking about the various factors that affect whether a boat sinks or
floats; for instance, the height of the sides of the
boat (to keep water from going in over the top
and sinking the boat), the thickness of the clay
on the sides and bottom of the boat (It will sink
if it is too thick, but it may develop leaks if it is
too thin), etc. In middle school or high school,
she may learn that density and specific gravity
are the primary factors affecting the floatability of an object. However, she is thinking about
these things as a young child while making clay
boats even though she is not yet aware of these
science vocabulary words or their meaning. She
hasn’t fully developed these concepts yet, nor
has she learned the names for them, but she is
thinking about them when she constructs and
reconstructs her clay boat.
Endnotes
As mentioned in Chapter 2, many of these ideas
were either stated or implied in Jack Easley’s
chapter (Duckworth, Easley, Hawkins, and Henriques, 1990).
 2
Brackets inserted by the author.
 3
Our youngest daughter, Sarah, asked us this question when she was about that age.
 4
Eleanor Duckworth, Jack Easley, David Hawkins,
and Androula Henriques, Science Education: A
Minds-On Approach For the Elementary Years. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1990, pages
87–93.
 5
A newer version of Bloom’s Taxonomy was published by Raths et al (2002) but we prefer to use
the original version for our purposes here.
 1
CHAPTER
7
Note: For this activity, course instructors should
schedule brief class discussions for each class session or pose questions for students on Blackboard
or a similar online class discussion board.
 7
Adapted from Elementary Science Methods: A Constructivist Approach, by David Jerner Martin (2009),
p. 77–78.
 8
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics,
Principles and Standards (2000)
 9
It must be oil-based—not water-based—clay.
Water-based clay falls apart in water.
10
The author first learned of this activity by reading
the Teacher’s Guide for ESS Clay Boats.
11
Children can be provided with digital thermometers, which are easier to read, until they are ready
to learn how to read thermometers with scale
markings.
12
I first learned about using pendulums with
preschoolers when I read Physical Knowledge in
Preschool Education: Implications of Piaget’s Theory
by Constance Kamii and Rheta Devries
13
Another type of science fair simply requires that
children learn more about a particular topic and
communicate about it. This is a bit like the “project work” and “topic work” that we discuss in
Chapter 11, except for the fact that it is specifically
focused on the science aspect of a topic.
14
Karplus (1964) chose to call this phase “concept
invention” because children must “invent” concepts on their own if they are to truly transform
this knowledge into something that they can
personally understand. However, we recognize
that not all children will accomplish this goal, so
we use the more relative term, concept development.
15
Many parts of this excerpt were deleted in order to
make our presentation of it more succinct. Ellipses
indicate omitted comments.
16
Our brackets.
17
http://www.thebutterflysite.com/life-cycle.shtml
 6
How We Should Teach Young Children about Science ♦ 151
Duckworth, Eleanor, Easley, Jack, Hawkins, David,
and Henriques, Androula (1990). Science education: A minds-on approach for the elementary years.
Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Easley, Jack (1990). “Stressing Dialogic Skill” in Science education: A minds-on approach for the elementary years, by Duckworth et al (op. cit.). Hillsdale:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
Education Development Corporation (1969). ESS
Clay Boats. New York: McGraw-Hill: Webster
Division.
______. (1970). The ESS Reader. Newton, Massachusetts: EDC.
Gallas, Karen (1994). The Languages of Learning: How
Children Talk, Write, Dance, Draw, and Sing Their
Understanding of the World. New York: Teachers
College Press.
______. (1995). Talking Their Way Into Science: Hearing
Children’s Questions and Theories, Responding with
Curricula. New York: Teachers College Press.
Hawkins, David (1970). “Messing About in Science”
in The ESS Reader. Education Development Center. Newton, Massachusetts, p. 37–44.
Hawkins, Frances (1969). The Logic of Action. New
York: Pantheon.
Kamii, Constance, and Rheta DeVries (1978). Physical Knowledge in Preschool Education: Implications of Piaget’s Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Karplus, Robert (1964), “The Science Curriculum
Improvement Study” in Journal of Research in
Science Teaching. Volume 2, Issue 4 (December,
1964).
Louisell, Robert and Jorge Descamps (2001). Developing A Teaching Style–2e. Prospect Heights, IL:
Waveland Press.
References
Martin, David Jerner (2009). Elementary Science Methods: A Constructivist Approach, Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project 2061 (1993). Benchmarks for
Science Literacy. New York: Oxford University
Press.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000).
Principles and Standards. Reston, VA: NCTM.
Duckworth, Eleanor (1987). The Having of Wonderful
Ideas: and Other Essays On Teaching and Learning.
New York: Teachers College Press.
Metz, K. E. (1995). “Reassessment of Developmental
Constraints in Science Instruction.” Review of Educational Research. Summer, Volume 65, Number 2.
National Research Council (1997). National Science
Education Standards. Washington, DC: National
Academy Press.
152 ♦ Helping Young Children Develop Their Understandings of Mathematics and Science
National Research Council (2013). Next Generation
Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Rathbone, Charles (1971). “The Plowden Report: Two
Excerpts” in Open Education: The Informal Classroom. New York: Citation.
Raths, James. “Improving Instruction” in Theory Into
Practice, Volume 41, Issue 4 (Fall, 2002).
The Butterfly Site.com. http://www.thebutterflysite.
com/life-cycle.shtml
PART
2
Index
Addition
and subtraction facts, 94
learning to add, 90–92
types of addition problems,
91–92
American Association for the
Advancement of Science,
151, 166
Animal Rummy, 84
Animism, 22–25, 32–33, 40, 45
Animistic, 25, 27, 33, 52
Artificialism, 22, 24–26, 33, 40, 45
Artificialist, 24–28, 32–33, 40, 130
Assessment, 73, 79, 81, 87, 88, 96,
139, 149
formative assessment, vii, 87
summative assessment, vii, 87
Assessment Activity, 7, 70, 71, 88,
113, 119–121
Attendance, lunch count, milk
count, 200–201
Authentic assessment, vii
Authentic learning, 15, 19, 148,
198, 202, 211, 215
3 principles for authentic
math education, 211–212
Barrow, Lloyd, 31, 41, 193, 194
Base ten blocks, 52, 100, 108
Beneke, Sallee, and Michaelene
Ostrosky, 232
Bloom, Benjamin, 64–65,
133–134, 150
Bloom’s Taxonomy, 64, 65,
133–134, 150
Board games, 85
Brewer, William, 38, 42
Britain, Lory, 34, 41
Bruner, Jerome, 36, 41, 61, 62, 66
Bunting, Eve, 207, 212
Butterfly Site (The), 152
Cabe Trundle, K., 188, 194
Calvin and Hobbes, 23
Campbell, Ashley, 186, 194
Card games, 84–85
for practice with addition,
94–95
for practice with subtraction,
95–96
Carpenter, Thomas, 90–93,
96–97, 108
Cartwright, Sally, 155, 166
Catalytic event, 218
Chaille, Cristine, 34, 41
Child as scientist, 34–35
Child’s ideas about
distance travelled, 110
measuring height, 111–112
moon, 5, 16, 21–27, 31–33,
37–38, 40, 42, 44, 47, 49, 51,
129, 130–131, 135, 149–150
shadows, 16, 26–27, 30–31,
33–36, 38, 41–42, 44, 129,
143
speed, 20, 118–120
time, 118–121
waves, 28–29, 32
wind, 4, 5, 16, 22–23, 26–30,
32–33, 38
Chrysalis, 165, 166, 186
Circuit, 179–180, 192–193
Classification, 61–62, 73–77, 79,
81–82, 87, 135, 155
Class inclusion, 75–79, 81, 86–87,
96, 99, 108, 123, 135, 155
235
Classroom management during
science, 188–189
Clements, Doug, 114, 119, 128
Cognitive structures, 49, 55, 154
Colored solutions, 171, 188
Concentration, 84
Conceptual change (How do
children change their
beliefs?) 31–40
Concrete operations, 33, 49, 55,
74–75, 77–78, 87, 154–155
Connecting Math to Literature,
203–207
Connor, Sylvia, 41
Conservation, 6, 9–10, 33, 41, 45,
49, 71–73, 75, 79–80, 87, 131
what to do when children
don’t conserve, 79–83
Conserver, 6, 19
Constructivism, 11–18, 41–42, 71
Constructivist, 11–18, 41–42,
141–151
Content knowledge, 64–65, 94,
133
Content standards, (See
Standards)
Copeland, Richard, 76, 79, 81,
88, 112–113, 118–121, 123,
127–128
Counting
counting all, counting on,
counting back, 86
five principles of counting
with understanding, 68–70,
73–74, 82
rote counting vs. counting
objects, 67–68
skip-counting, 97, 99, 108
236 ♦ Index
Crazy 8s (Card game), 85
Current Events (Math in),
210–211
Curricula, 18, 36, 38, 42, 56, 64,
90, 99, 119, 129, 130, 134,
141–142, 150–151, 166, 180–
181, 183–185, 187, 192–193
Curriculum, 13–14, 16–19, 41, 63,
65, 66, 78, 90, 99, 130, 139,
141, 142, 149, 151, 166–167,
181–182, 192, 198, 207, 209,
215, 217
African Primary Science Curriculum, 17
of the 60s and 90s, 141–142
Elementary Science Study
(ESS), 65, 130, 141, 192,
194
FOSS: Insects and Plants,
181–182
Full Option Science
Systems (FOSS), 181,
192–193
Science, A Process Approach
(SAPA), 65, 192
Science Curriculum
Improvement Study
(SCIS), 65, 141–142,
151, 184–185, 192, 194
Davis, Genevieve, and David
Keller, 165–166
Denis-Prinzhorn, Marianne, 41,
56
Developing a Teaching Style, 19, 65,
88, 128, 151
Developmentally appropriate/
inappropriate, 64, 79, 134,
154, 162, 183–184, 202
developmentally inappropriate
science processes for early
childhood, 140, 149, 150
premeasurement and measurement activities, 114
Dewey, John, 36, 41, 54, 56, 156,
166, 214
Different objects principle, 70, 80,
Different order principle, 69
Division,
learning to divide, 106–107
measurement division, 106–107
partitive division, 106
Doherty, Paul, and Don Rathgren ,(See The Exploratorium
Science Snackbook)
Driver, Rosalind, 34, 41,
Duckworth, Eleanor, 5, 11–19,
34, 37, 41, 54, 56, 78–79, 88,
114, 128, 130, 132, 138–139,
142, 144, 150–151, 166, 176,
193–194
Gabel, Dorothy, 13, 19
Gallas, Karen, 36, 37, 42, 53–56,
139, 145, 151, 166
Gallistel, 87, 88, 128
Garcia-Ruiz, Francisca, 184, 194
Gellman, Rochelle, 87, 88, 128
Ginsburg, Herbert, 7, 16, 19, 42,
74, 76, 83, 87–88
Grize, Jean-Blaiz, 41, 56
Early Childhood and Parenting
Collaborative, 232
Earth science activities for
preschool and kindergarten
children, 165
Easley, Jack, 11–13, 15–16, 18–19,
34, 37, 39, 41, 48, 51, 55–57,
127, 132, 138–139, 142, 144,
150–151, 156, 166, 194, 197,
212
Easley, Robert, 41, 56
Ebenezer, Jazlin, 41
Education Development Corporation, 151
Egocentric, 5–7, 13, 19, 29, 32–33,
44–45, 48, 145
Electricity and magnetism, 170,
178–180, 194
Empson, Susan, 108, 123,
126–128
Endosperm, 183, 192
English Language Learners
(Adapting to during science), 190–191
ESS (Elementary Science Study),
(See curriculum)
Exploratorium Science Snackbook
(The), 166
Hands-on, 18, 34, 38–39, 55, 62,
78, 114, 131, 139, 141–142,
143, 145–148, 150, 174, 181,
182, 187–191, 193
Hands-on, minds-on, 15, 17,
142–148, 184, 192
Harr, Natalie, and Richard Lee,
180, 194
Haury, D. L., 204, 212
Hawkins, David, 142, 151,
Hawkins, Frances, 15, 142, 151
Heaney, Seamus, 43
Helm, Judy, and Lillian Katz,
233
Henriques, Androula, 41
Hernandez, Beth Ortiz, 127–128
Hewitt, Christine, 153, 156, 166
Hierarchical inclusion, 75, 87 (See
class inclusion)
Hodson, Derek and Julie, 34, 42
Hornstein, Stephen, 197
Hubbard, Leesa, 188, 194
Hunt, J. M., 56
Family grouping, 225
Feher, E., and K. Rice, 172, 194
Fifty Chips (Board game), 85, 87
Filament, 179, 193
Flavell, John, 7, 16, 19, 42
Fractions, 109, 123,
fraction circles, 124–125
fraction strips, 123–125
teaching young children
about fractions, 123–126
Frost, Peter, 213, 233
Furth, Hans, 121, 128
Fuson, Karen, 71, 88, 119, 128
Igneous, 165
Implications of children’s ideas
for teaching science to
young children, 38–40
Inhelder, Barbel, 42, 113, 128
Insects, 35, 54, 136, 147, 164, 165,
169, 181, 185–186
Internalized action (Knowledge
as), 10, 37
Interviewing
throughout the classroom
day, 52–54
young children, 49–52
Isaacs, Nathan, 127–128
Juxtoposition, 47–49
Kahn, Sami et al, 191–192, 194
Index ♦ 237
Kamii, Constance 7, 19, 49, 56, 76,
78, 81, 84, 86–88, 94–96, 108,
138, 142, 151, 157–160, 167
Kaplinski, Jan, 21
Karmiloff-Smith, Annette, 34, 42
Karplus, Robert, 142, 151
Kazantzakis, Nikos, 169, 194
Kazemek, Francis, 31, 36–37, 42,
173–174, 193–194
Keeley, Page, 183, 193–194
Keller, E. F., 56
Knowledge, 64–65, 71, 74, 79,
82, 84, 87–88, 90, 94, 108,
114, 127, 129, 131–135, 139,
143–146, 149–151
constructivist philosophy of
knowledge, 3, 10–19, 22,
34–42, 57
physical knowledge, 41, 151,
157–160, 167
Kyle, W. C., 39, 41–42, 132
“Laws” of science teaching,
129–132
Learning cycle (The), 142–147
diagram of the learning cycle,
146
lesson plan about the life cycle
of mealworm, 147
lesson plan format for lessons
following the learning
cycle, 148
Leonni, Leo, 117, 128
Life cycles (of insects), 54, 135,
142, 146, 164–165, 185–186,
194
lesson plan about life cycle of
mealworm (See Learning
Cycle)
Life science activities with young
children, 162–164
Lineup (Card Dominos), 84
Louisell, Marie, 41, 56, 146
Louisell, Robert, 19, 31, 36–37, 42,
88, 173, 193–194, 197, 212, 233
(and Jorge Descamps, See
Developing A Teaching Style)
Mailley, Elizabeth, 126, 128
Making families (Card game), 84
Marsh, Leonard, 233
Marshello, A. F. J., 206, 212
Martin, David J., 151
Math as a tool for bringing
meaning to text, 207
Math in content study, 207–210
McMillan, Sue, 127, 128
Measurement, 73, 109–110, 112
English measurement,
116–117, 127
measuring activities, 115–118
metric, 116–118, 127
non-standard measurement,
123, 127
premeasurement activities,
114–115
standard, 115–117
teaching children about measurement, 113–123
Metamorphosis, 164, 165, 166,
185–186
Metz, K. E., 151
Mintzes, Joel, 41–42
Mirrors and light boxes, 176–178
Money, 201–203
Moss, M., 208, 212
Moyer, Patricia, 126, 128
Multiplication,
learning to multiply, 96–99
Munsch, R., 2–4, 212
Murphy, Erin, 117, 128
Mystery powders, 170–171
National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, 65, 127, 128,
136, 148, 151
National Education Association
(NEA), 212
National Research Council,
151–152, 194
National Science Resource Center, 194
Nature centers, 180, 193
Novak, Joseph, 41–42
Number operations, 76, 78,
89–90, 106–107
Number track, 97, 108
Numerals, 84–85, 91, 94, 100, 108,
122
writing of, 86
One-to-one matching principle,
one-to-one correspondence,
6, 67–68, 80, 87, 155
Opper, Sylvia, 7, 16, 19, 42, 74,
76, 83, 87–88
Part-whole relations, 77, 87, 93,
155 (See class inclusion)
Payne, Joseph, 93, 108, 121, 128
Pentaminos, 83
People Pieces, 75, 78, 80–81
Phillips, D. C., 11, 19
Photosynthesis, 183, 193
Physics for preschool and kindergarten children, 157–161
Piaget, Jean, 3–6, 10–13, 15–16,
19–20, 22, 24, 31–38, 40–42,
44–49, 51, 56–57, 69, 71–79,
87–88, 113–114, 118, 121,
127–128, 131, 143–144, 151,
154–155, 166–167, 172–174,
193–194
Pinczes, Elinor, 126, 128
Place-value,
teaching children about, 99–102
teaching children about addition and subtraction with
place-value, 101–105
teaching children how to add
when trading is required,
102–103
teaching children how to
subtract when trading is
required, 104–105
trading (concept of), 100–106
Plants, 35–36, 54, 142, 146, 156,
162–164, 166, 180–186, 193
Play, 15, 80, 82–83, 84, 94, 96, 100,
108, 137, 141–142, 149–150,
153, 165–167, 174, 214, 218
materials that facilitate play
related to science learnings,
155
play-based curricula for science, 156
water play, 158–159
why play is essential to
development and learning,
154–155
Playing, 26, 34, 51, 85, 95, 98, 109,
115, 175
Popsicle sticks, 100, 108, 162
Processes, 39, 64–65
of science (See Science
processes)
238 ♦ Index
Progressive education movement, 213
Project Wild, 183
Project work, 213–214
“active jacket,” 215
activity progression (listing
potential activities for project work), 220–221
arranging classroom space for
project work, 225–228
culminating a project, 229
final preparations for, 222
grouping children during
project work, 222
identifying questions to be
investigated in project
work, 220
questioning as a teaching
strategy during project
work, 223
reporting child’s progress
during project work,
229–231
scheduling project work,
225–227
skills used during project
work, 224–225
Pupa, 135, 146–147, 164, 166,
185–186
Quality (Ethos of), 215
Rathbone, Charles, 149, 151–152,
154–156, 167
Raths, James, 150, 152
Realism, 45–47
Reversible thought, 49, 56, 94
Ripple, Richard, 3, 20, 35, 79, 88,
128
Robinson, Edith, 128
Rockcastle, Verne, 3, 20, 35, 79,
88, 128
Rocks, 4, 136, 158, 165, 169, 187
Rylant, C., 205, 212
Safety issues during science,
189–190
Samarapungavan, Ala, 37, 42
Sanders, S. R., 207, 212
Schultz, Karen, 86–88,
Science, A Process Approach
(SAPA) (See curriculum)
Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS), (See
curriculum)
Science processes, 129, 132–141,
149–150, 165, 187
appropriate for early childhood (basic), 134–139
developmentally inappropriate for early childhood,
140–141
Seriation, 73–74, 79–82, 87
Shadows, 170, 172–175
Shipstone, David, 179, 194
Shymanski, James, 39, 42, 132
Sky (The night and daytime sky),
187–188
Smith, Deborah, et al, 183,
193–194
Smith, Peter, 154, 167
Sovchik, Robert, 117, 128
Spontaneous conviction, 56
Stable order principle, 68, 80,
87
Standards, 12–14, 17–18, 64–65,
84, 86, 107, 116, 128–129,
131, 136, 142, 148–152, 181,
187, 215, 222
Benchmarks for Science
Literacy, 148, 151, 161, 166,
193
Common Core State Standards, 116, 128
content standards for science,
148–150
National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics Principles
and Standards, 63, 65, 86,
107–108, 136, 148–149, 151,
212
National Science Education
Standards, 148, 151, 176,
185, 193–194
Next Generation Science Standards, 148–150, 152, 178,
180, 193–194
Steele, Marcee, 191, 194
Subtraction
facts, 94
learning to subtract, 92–93
types of subtractions problems, 92–93
Surveys and graphs, 198–200,
Swyers, William, 61, 66
Syncretism, 47–49
Tanner, Daniel, and Laurel Tanner, 233
Teaching by listening, 55
Time,
analog (clocks), 118, 121, 123
child’s ideas about time (See
Child’s ideas about time)
digital (clocks), 118, 123
teaching children about telling time, 118–123
Topic work (See project work)
Total number principle, 69, 80
Unifix cubes, 6, 88, 97, 100, 101,
108, 116
UNO, 85
Van Leeuwen, J., 208, 212
Venville, Grady, 37, 42
Vosniadou, Stella, 37, 42
Vygotsky (Vysgotsky), 35, 57,
155, 167
Wandersee, James, 41–42
War (Card game), 84, 95 (Double
war)
Waterson, 23
Watson, Sandy, 193–194
Wellik, Jerome, 37, 42,
Wessels, Stephanie, 190, 194
Whitin, D., Mills, H., and T.
O’Keefe, 198, 212
Whitin, D. and S. Wilde, 203, 212
Wilder, Laura, 212
Wilhelm, Jennifer, 31, 36–37, 42,
173–174, 193–194
Witz, Klaus, 54, 56–57
Ziemer, Maryann, 166–167
Zwoyer, Russ, 56
About the Authors
R
obert Louisell holds a doctorate in elementary and early childhood education from University of Illinois and is Professor Emeritus at St. Cloud
State University. He has seven years of teaching experience in public schools at
the early childhood level. He has taught in early childhood education programs
at St. Ambrose University and University of Texas, El Paso, and in the elementary education program at St. Cloud State University. He is also the co-author of
Developing a Teaching Style (Harper-Collins, 1992, Waveland Press, 2001).
S
tephen Hornstein is a professor in the College of Education at St. Cloud
State University. His special interests include authentic mathematics curriculum and assessments during the early childhood and elementary years. He
is also a proponent of whole mathematics and he has served as president of the
Whole Language Umbrella and as a math coach at Tse’ii’ahi Community School
in Standing Rock, New Mexico. His international experience includes consulting
in Nigeria.
P
eter Frost has taught education courses at Bath College of Higher Education in Bath, England and at William Jewel College in Kansas. He also
has several years of teaching experience in primary schools. He was CEO of the
National Primary Trust, Director of the Gifted and Talented Academy, and Policy
Adviser for Government of England during 2005–8.
I DO,
AND
AND
I UNDERSTAND
Helping Young Children Discover Science and Mathematics
“A merit of his liberalized Piagetian approach is to help
educators to take a subject’s perspective about children
as learners. These analyses of Dr. Louisell’s yield wise
advice on educational strategies, which might help to
refine interventions in elementary science education.”
― Juan Pascual-Leone
(About science activities)
“If we provide hands-on situations for children―for
example, exploring density by testing out which objects
sink and float or learning about electricity by experimenting with batteries, bulbs, and wires―they will
reflect on the science phenomena that they observe and
develop their own ideas about them.”
Facsimile of a Police Car Built By Children
(About constructivism)
“When we help children to develop their own ideas
about the world around them... we are helping them
develop their knowledge of the world. This is far more
important than trying to pass on our own knowledge ―
a knowledge most young children will be unable to
understand at this stage.”
Paintings by 1st Grade Children After Trip to Zoo
“Previous texts on the subject … neglected … grade
levels one through three. This book … comprehensively deals with preschool/kindergarten and grades
1–3 and it contains over a hundred tested early childhood activities for mathematics and science.”
Robert Louisell holds a doctorate in elementary and early childhood education from University of Illinois and
is Professor Emeritus at St. Cloud State University. He has seven years of teaching experience in public schools
at the early childhood level. He has taught in early childhood education programs at St. Ambrose University
and University of Texas, El Paso, and in the elementary education program at St. Cloud State University. He is
also the co-author of Developing a Teaching Style (Harper-Collins, 1992, Waveland Press, 2001).
ISBN 13: 978-1-934478-36-3
ISBN 10: 1-934478-36-9
Constructivist Press
www.constructivistpress.com
$ 75.00